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Nic Costa #3
The Sacred Cut
The snow is falling on the ancient streets of Rome. And in the heart of the city, under the Pantheon's great dome, a woman's body lies on the marble floor, carefully positioned with a gruesome carving on her back....In David Hewson's ingenious new thriller, this horrific murder hurtles Rome's police force into a collision with U.S. agents-and a secret that has festered for fifteen years, now unraveling in the world's most enigmatic city.
When Detective Nic Costa arrives at the scene, he is unprepared for what he finds, or for the ambush that leaves his only witness vanished into the night. The dead woman was American. Within hours, U.S. agents descend with a take-no-prisoners style and a shocking story to tell: the killer has struck before, in monuments all over the world, leaving the same cryptic message carved onto the bodies of the victims.
But one agent, beautiful, blond Emily Deacon, has yet another story to tell Nic-about a stunning act of deception that may lead back to the U.S. government, and her own chilling, personal connection to the killer. Now, as the first murder leads to more grisly slayings and a motley crew of veteran Roman cops jousts with the Americans, Nic is pulled into a woman's harrowing search for the truth...a search that will take them both into the mind of a madman, into a shocking conspiracy-and into a dark episode in a nation's long-forgotten past.
From its haunting opening to its nerve-shattering climax, The Sacred Cut defies all our expectations, proving once again the unique and compelling genius of David Hewson.
When Detective Nic Costa arrives at the scene, he is unprepared for what he finds, or for the ambush that leaves his only witness vanished into the night. The dead woman was American. Within hours, U.S. agents descend with a take-no-prisoners style and a shocking story to tell: the killer has struck before, in monuments all over the world, leaving the same cryptic message carved onto the bodies of the victims.
But one agent, beautiful, blond Emily Deacon, has yet another story to tell Nic-about a stunning act of deception that may lead back to the U.S. government, and her own chilling, personal connection to the killer. Now, as the first murder leads to more grisly slayings and a motley crew of veteran Roman cops jousts with the Americans, Nic is pulled into a woman's harrowing search for the truth...a search that will take them both into the mind of a madman, into a shocking conspiracy-and into a dark episode in a nation's long-forgotten past.
From its haunting opening to its nerve-shattering climax, The Sacred Cut defies all our expectations, proving once again the unique and compelling genius of David Hewson.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published December 27, 2005
66 people are currently reading
667 people want to read
About the author
David Hewson
112 books525 followersDAVID HEWSON was born in Yorkshire in 1953. His books range from the Nic Costa series set in Italy to adaptations of The Killing in Copenhagen and the Pieter Vos series in Amsterdam.
He's adapted Shakespeare for Audible and in 2018 won the Audie for best original work for Romeo and Juliet: A Novel, narrated by Richard Armitage.
2019 sees the release of a new, full-cast Audible drama set in New York, Last Seen Wearing, and a standalone novel set in the Faroe Islands, Devil's Fjord.
Series:
Nic Costa
Pieter Vos
The Killing
He's adapted Shakespeare for Audible and in 2018 won the Audie for best original work for Romeo and Juliet: A Novel, narrated by Richard Armitage.
2019 sees the release of a new, full-cast Audible drama set in New York, Last Seen Wearing, and a standalone novel set in the Faroe Islands, Devil's Fjord.
Series:
Nic Costa
Pieter Vos
The Killing
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
September 18, 2022
Enjoyable with lots of wonderful Roman atmosphere. 3.5 stars 🌟.
August 27, 2022
There's murder in Rome during a blizzard that brings the city to a standstill. The murderer has carved an intricate pattern on her back with a scalpel. Before the local police can investigate the FBI are brought in to do it. There is intrigue galore especially when this body is not the first to be found in this way. The tale shares the frustrations and politics of the FBI which involves some unexpected twists and turns. A good one to read.
February 3, 2009
The Sacred Cut
Again, I have walked into the middle of a suspense mystery writer’s series. So I won’t try to recapitulate the characters or the story. What I will say is David Hewson is a fine writer. He develops characters extremely well. He writes for an intelligent audience. This book was set in Rome and was full of artistic and architectural detail. And he can tell a damn fine tale. All of which is why I thoroughly enjoyed the story and recommend it.
The only down side of this novel was it showed similarities to the recent Dale Brownesque story lines of finding a few too many hidden meanings in everything, which can get a little over dramatic at times.
Again, I have walked into the middle of a suspense mystery writer’s series. So I won’t try to recapitulate the characters or the story. What I will say is David Hewson is a fine writer. He develops characters extremely well. He writes for an intelligent audience. This book was set in Rome and was full of artistic and architectural detail. And he can tell a damn fine tale. All of which is why I thoroughly enjoyed the story and recommend it.
The only down side of this novel was it showed similarities to the recent Dale Brownesque story lines of finding a few too many hidden meanings in everything, which can get a little over dramatic at times.
July 30, 2013
The Sacred Cut by David Hewson was published in 2005, but I just found it. The setting is Rome and it is snowing like it has not snowed for twenty years. Nic Costa and Gianni are plainclothes policemen working five days before Christmas with a photographer when suddenly the photographer is shot and dies in front of the Pantheon. When they see a figure running out, they go inside and find a naked woman lying on geometric slabs, legs and arms akimbo, her skin waxy. Her limbs were outstretched like Leonardo's sketch of The Vitruvian Man.
Within hours, they discover the corpse was an American and U. S. agents descend with a shocking story to tell: the killer had struck before, in monuments all over the world, leaving the same cryptic message.
One agent, Emily Deacon, relates a stunning act of deception that may lead to the U. S. Government and her connection to the killer. The first murder leads to more grisly slayings and Roman police joust with Americans to solve the cases.
The reader is taken into the mind of a madman, who has multiple personalities, and into a conspiracy that still engenders outrage years after the war.
The sacred cut is found in the layout of many ancient buildings, including the Parthenon and is produced by drawing a square, using a compass with an amount equal to half a diagonal, cutting through the center at a corner of the square, and repeating for the other three corners. Through the eight points of intersection of the arcs and the sides of the square, draw four verticals and four horizontals. The center square formed by this construction is called the sacred cut square.
Imagine drawing this design on the back of a body! It took the killer many tries before he perfected the design found on the woman in the Parthenon.
The book is similar to the De Vinci Code that was written three years before, but this does not dull this exceptional novel about Rome and its people.
Within hours, they discover the corpse was an American and U. S. agents descend with a shocking story to tell: the killer had struck before, in monuments all over the world, leaving the same cryptic message.
One agent, Emily Deacon, relates a stunning act of deception that may lead to the U. S. Government and her connection to the killer. The first murder leads to more grisly slayings and Roman police joust with Americans to solve the cases.
The reader is taken into the mind of a madman, who has multiple personalities, and into a conspiracy that still engenders outrage years after the war.
The sacred cut is found in the layout of many ancient buildings, including the Parthenon and is produced by drawing a square, using a compass with an amount equal to half a diagonal, cutting through the center at a corner of the square, and repeating for the other three corners. Through the eight points of intersection of the arcs and the sides of the square, draw four verticals and four horizontals. The center square formed by this construction is called the sacred cut square.
Imagine drawing this design on the back of a body! It took the killer many tries before he perfected the design found on the woman in the Parthenon.
The book is similar to the De Vinci Code that was written three years before, but this does not dull this exceptional novel about Rome and its people.
February 9, 2015
The Sacred Cut is the second book I’ve read in David Hewson’s Detective series, and I must say I enjoyed it even more than the first. Hewson’s characters are finely drawn and consistent from book to book. He is a master at characterization. His “shorter than the usual cop”, Nic Costa, is a vegetarian, non-smoking, Roman policeman who lives alone on a farm out of the city on the Appian Way. Nic is a personality who sticks with you, as does his side-kick, Gianni Peroni.
The story is set in December in Rome, during a rare frigid snow storm. The descriptions of the Pantheon with snow swirling down through the hole at its apex, of fountains with their spurting water frozen in the mouths of dolphins, of airports closed and streets empty of traffic are vivid. And into this setting, Hewson places a young Kurdish girl, (a child who lives through pick-pocketing), an obnoxious CIA agent, a rogue mercenary soldier gone a little mad, and an assortment of other interesting characters. There are a series of grisly murders to solve, and the usual Italian problems with corrupt officials along the way.
The Sacred Cut is a book that keeps one reading. It is easy to draw comparisons with Donna Leon’s masterful Venetian detective series, but I must say that Hewson’s writing is quite different from Leon’s. While Nic Costa’s Rome is as finely drawn as Brunetti’s Venice, Hewson’s stories, gleaned from the two I’ve read, are darker and the resolutions are perhaps a little more satisfactory.
I highly recommend The Sacred Cut to all lovers of a good detective story and to all armchair travelers who love Rome.
The story is set in December in Rome, during a rare frigid snow storm. The descriptions of the Pantheon with snow swirling down through the hole at its apex, of fountains with their spurting water frozen in the mouths of dolphins, of airports closed and streets empty of traffic are vivid. And into this setting, Hewson places a young Kurdish girl, (a child who lives through pick-pocketing), an obnoxious CIA agent, a rogue mercenary soldier gone a little mad, and an assortment of other interesting characters. There are a series of grisly murders to solve, and the usual Italian problems with corrupt officials along the way.
The Sacred Cut is a book that keeps one reading. It is easy to draw comparisons with Donna Leon’s masterful Venetian detective series, but I must say that Hewson’s writing is quite different from Leon’s. While Nic Costa’s Rome is as finely drawn as Brunetti’s Venice, Hewson’s stories, gleaned from the two I’ve read, are darker and the resolutions are perhaps a little more satisfactory.
I highly recommend The Sacred Cut to all lovers of a good detective story and to all armchair travelers who love Rome.
October 31, 2017
Για ακόμα μια φορά ο Χιουζον δεν με απογοήτευσε, είτε διαβάζοντας κάποιο βιβλίο της σειράς με την Σάρα Λουντ είτε με τον Νικ Κόστα. Μου κάνει εντύπωση πως κάποιος αγγλοσάξονας μπορεί και γράφει τόσο καλά για χώρες και νοοτροπίες/κουλτούρες που του είναι, λογικά, ξένες. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο είναι το τρίτο της ασειράς με τον ρωμαίο αστυνομικό Νικ Κόστα και είναι σαν να διαβάζω κάτι που έγραψε αυτόχθονας. Περιγράφει τη Ρώμη μέσα από τα μάτια των γηγενών και σου δίνει την εικόνα της πόλης με την μακραίωνη ιστορία, την μοναδική ομορφιά και τη μεσογειακή αντιμετώπιση των κατοίκων της. Μιλάει επίσης για τον πόλεμο, τους ανθρώπους που πλήττονται από αυτόν έκοντες άκοντες, τη μάστιγα των ασυνόδευτων παιδιών στη Δύση, την ψυχολογία αυτών που λαμβάνουν μέρος στους πολέμους και πως αλλάζει, μαζί με μια πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα αστυνομική ιστορία. Μόνιμα αγαπημένος συγγραφέας!
September 30, 2017
Excellent detective thriller. I didn’t realize until I downloaded that Regis is the third book in the series. The author is very descriptive. I’ve visited Rome so I knew most of the places he described in the book. There is a murder in the Pantheon. The body has a strange design carved into the skin. Ciara has to work with the FBI stop killing that are occurring. It’s riveting and the characters are well developed. I plan to read the first book because it made reference to his old partner Rossi. It’s not critical to enjoy the book but I enjoyed this one so much I plan to read the entire series
June 9, 2023
Kwam niet echt in het verhaal. Startte traag, maar had wel genoeg actie om je bezig te houden. Begon er een beetje genoeg van te krijgen te lezen dat Peroni door een fout van hem bij de 'gewone' politie terecht kwam. De reden daar van was al in het Het Bacchus offer uitgelegd, en nu ook weer diverse keren.
Wat gebeurde er verder met dat meisje Laila?
Over het algemeen zijn dit leuke verhalen om te lezen op vakantie, omdat ze makkelijk weg te leggen zijn.
Wat gebeurde er verder met dat meisje Laila?
Over het algemeen zijn dit leuke verhalen om te lezen op vakantie, omdat ze makkelijk weg te leggen zijn.
February 12, 2019
Fast-paced page turner - a woman is found murdered in the pantheon in Rome in a ritualistic manner. Costa and Peroni discover the woman at the same time the killer begins shooting at them. The chase is futile as the killer gets away. More killings, US Government and Italian secret service are involved; a runaway teenager witnesses the initial murder; cryptic messages are left by the killer - all leads to deceptions, lies, manipulation by US government and Italian secret service with local Italian police. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
July 7, 2022
audible version read by Saul Reichlin.
a kosovan teenage refugee, ritualistic murders in sacred places, FBI, black ops gone wrong, corrupt police, and of course Nic, Giovanni and Theresa.
the first 2 Nic Costa books were a random 2-for-1 selection. book 3 was a deliberate purchase, as will be book 4!
superb and brilliantly narrated.
a kosovan teenage refugee, ritualistic murders in sacred places, FBI, black ops gone wrong, corrupt police, and of course Nic, Giovanni and Theresa.
the first 2 Nic Costa books were a random 2-for-1 selection. book 3 was a deliberate purchase, as will be book 4!
superb and brilliantly narrated.
March 15, 2025
One reason I like this series is that it takes place in Rome (Italy) a city I know. I also like that the detectives are not larger than life, but real people (but more American/British if I'm honest). The series is always well written, and this book has some surprising twists and turns. Not all is quite as it seems, a good mix of police detective novel and spy thriller.
March 5, 2022
Solid plot with interesting villains. A body is found in the Pantheon while a rare snow storm blankets Rome before Christmas. And, yes, snow will fall onto the floor of the Pantheon through the oculus. The usual Hewson ritualistic murders ensue. However Costa and is crew solve the crimes.
March 2, 2019
Love mysteries that take place in Italy. Lots of suspense.
January 12, 2019
Not my usual fare, but it was a fun change of pace. The characters were mostly compelling, and the story moves along at a good clip. Our protagonists definitely feel like a family and I was rooting for them, which carried the book through its weaker moments.
It's amazing how dated a book published in 2005 can feel - not a criticism, it's just fascinating. Anything so involved in politics is going to get dated crazy fast, I guess.
The degree to which every viewpoint character, from grizzled cop to architect turned FBI agent, is an expert on Roman history and knows every landmark in Rome by heart... it's consistently amusing.
The ending is not good. The situation is so dramatic is becomes funny, and then Hewson undercuts the tension repeatedly. A main character is suddenly cooperating with the antagonist to facilitate a "twist" ending and CASUALLY TOSSING BOMBS IN THE PANTHEON??? I did not like it.
It's amazing how dated a book published in 2005 can feel - not a criticism, it's just fascinating. Anything so involved in politics is going to get dated crazy fast, I guess.
The degree to which every viewpoint character, from grizzled cop to architect turned FBI agent, is an expert on Roman history and knows every landmark in Rome by heart... it's consistently amusing.
The ending is not good. The situation is so dramatic is becomes funny, and then Hewson undercuts the tension repeatedly. A main character is suddenly cooperating with the antagonist to facilitate a "twist" ending and CASUALLY TOSSING BOMBS IN THE PANTHEON??? I did not like it.
October 12, 2023
Een kaft die past bij het verhaal.
De oorspronkelijke titel; the sacred cut, is beter dan de titel.
Spijtig dat het verhaal naar mate het verder gaat van thema veranderd.
Het begon als een politieroman maar het eindigt in een strijd tussen de FBI en ex soldaten van het Amerikaanse leger die een geheime opdracht hebben uitgevoerd in Iran.
De dader is echter snel gevonden zodat het accent politieroman snel is verdwenen.
De oorspronkelijke titel; the sacred cut, is beter dan de titel.
Spijtig dat het verhaal naar mate het verder gaat van thema veranderd.
Het begon als een politieroman maar het eindigt in een strijd tussen de FBI en ex soldaten van het Amerikaanse leger die een geheime opdracht hebben uitgevoerd in Iran.
De dader is echter snel gevonden zodat het accent politieroman snel is verdwenen.
July 8, 2018
Net geen pageturner, maar ik wil het boek wel graag zo snel mogelijk uit lezen. Dat is gelukt, gedreven door nieuwsgierigheid. Minpuntje, de clou van het verhaal komt onnodig moeilijk tot stand. De auteur verdrinkt op sommige momenten in te wollige beschrijvingen of weidt uit in beschrijvingen van de stad Rome, die er eigenlijk helemaal niet toe doen.
De karakters komen wel leuk tot leven.
De karakters komen wel leuk tot leven.
November 1, 2020
Hewson delivers again. Another gripping thriller from this excellent writer. The disclose wasn't obvious and the explanation had a further twist. A story well written with a song as a key linking component and with an appropriate bearing; I doubt I shall listen to Steely Dan again without recalling a great tune - Babylon Sisters: shake it!
June 21, 2019
Picked it up because the review by Washington Post on the cover said "...better than The Da Vinci Code". Nowhere close, but the writing is good. Wonder whether the Washington Post read some other book that was sitting within the cover of The Da Vinci Code.
August 17, 2017
it was a decent read, but it I didn't really got into the story
November 10, 2017
Een erg leuke detectiveserie vermengd met leuke feitjes over de geschiedenis en architectuur van Rome, maar waarin ook de recente geschiedenis een belangrijke rol speelt.
January 21, 2018
toch iets te Amerikaans, iets te toevallig en wonderlijk hoe de hoofdpersonen er doorheen rollen. daardoor geforceerd en niet geloofwaardig voor mij.
July 11, 2019
A bit long winded and repetitive.
July 26, 2019
Spannend en ontspannend tegelijk. Het speelt zich af in het heerlijke Rome, herkenbaar voor velen onder ons. £Lees ook de overige boeken van D. Hewson.
October 17, 2021
This series is getting better. I enjoy them more when the narrator doesn't try to give the character talk with Italian accent!
June 7, 2024
A well written novel once again in this series. The characters are well defined, the plot especially tangled and the writing assured and confident. Highly recommended.
March 3, 2025
Oerdegelijke politiethriller. Niets meer, niets minder.
January 2, 2026
couldn't get into this one, didn't draw,me in straight away
November 5, 2016
This is the first time I've read a David Hewson's book and I've got to say his style of writings or the details he paid attentions to is much more meticulous than what Dan Brown has done for The Sacred Cut's major contender - The Da Vinci Code, though I wouldn't go as far as saying that this book in itself is better than Dan Brown's hit like the reviews on the cover of my copy said.
There is no argument in the band of characters Hewson introduced - they all have very intriguing backstories, particularly Laila, and Hewson also has his own way of squeezing in great details about individual characters in-between events as so to make it gripping but not boring or diverting from the main course of the events.
However the main problem in this book all boiled down to the plot in itself. The plot held great potentials, and I was halfway into believing this is like a different replica of The Da Vinci Code reading the synopsis and some of the reviews - the whole shebang about underground cults or some vague horror pieces of the Middle Ages most people don't know about. But I was seriously disappointed when the whole thing - all of the buildups from the mysterious narrations of Bill Kaspar's obsessions over symmetry (or the Sacred Cut in itself), all of the suspicious activities from the FBI,... to finally becoming a disappointing dud when it's simple as a whole HUMINT operation went wrong back in Desert Storm, and the leader just went entirely bonkers seeing the same symbol on the walls of his Forward Operating Base (Being a historical site back to the ode days) as well as the same pattern on the webbing he has used to hide himself in vain with, after he was released, believing his other crew of associates betrayed him, he went on a manhunt to carve into each of their backs the same symbol he had seen.
Simple, and a bit shallow. To be honest. It's like C.S. Lewis wrote the entire Narnia series then end with the children waking up from a mere dream.
It was, again, disappointing. It didn't add up to the expectations Hewson has so beautifully crafted from the readers.
The plot has great potentials. Too bad it took a wrong turn.
There is no argument in the band of characters Hewson introduced - they all have very intriguing backstories, particularly Laila, and Hewson also has his own way of squeezing in great details about individual characters in-between events as so to make it gripping but not boring or diverting from the main course of the events.
However the main problem in this book all boiled down to the plot in itself. The plot held great potentials, and I was halfway into believing this is like a different replica of The Da Vinci Code reading the synopsis and some of the reviews - the whole shebang about underground cults or some vague horror pieces of the Middle Ages most people don't know about. But I was seriously disappointed when the whole thing - all of the buildups from the mysterious narrations of Bill Kaspar's obsessions over symmetry (or the Sacred Cut in itself), all of the suspicious activities from the FBI,... to finally becoming a disappointing dud when it's simple as a whole HUMINT operation went wrong back in Desert Storm, and the leader just went entirely bonkers seeing the same symbol on the walls of his Forward Operating Base (Being a historical site back to the ode days) as well as the same pattern on the webbing he has used to hide himself in vain with, after he was released, believing his other crew of associates betrayed him, he went on a manhunt to carve into each of their backs the same symbol he had seen.
Simple, and a bit shallow. To be honest. It's like C.S. Lewis wrote the entire Narnia series then end with the children waking up from a mere dream.
It was, again, disappointing. It didn't add up to the expectations Hewson has so beautifully crafted from the readers.
The plot has great potentials. Too bad it took a wrong turn.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2013
I think so far this is my least favourite of the Nic Costa series. I have read 4 of them. I would suggest that this could be a case of an author starting well and then fading with a hero that they should have stopped writing about, but I have read Books 1-3 (this is book 3) and book 5 (I read them out of order) and book 5 was actually my favourite, so perhaps this is not the case.
I found I did not really engage with this story. I don;t know if it was the use of American secret services in this one which took it away from the battles between the different Rome departments or if it was just the story of this particular bunch of characters I did not engage with. Costa was not one of the main parts of this book - his partner Gianii Peroni was, which wasn't a bad thing as you really got to know this character and his girlfriend, Teresa Lupo more, but it was the wooden characters around them that failed to build the plot of this story which meant at the end, apart from wanting Costa, Peroni and Falcone to come out OK I really couldn't have cared less what happened to the other characters in the book.
Normally Hewson manages to write so that you end up feeling some sympathy for the criminals in the book. Her certainly managed that in book 5, but in this one I just wanted to shake every single American character and tell them to get a grip - or maybe that was the point? There was just too much 'romance' and 'nostalgia' centred around missions in to Iraq prior to the first Gulf War and beyond. or maybe perhaps it is my own perceptions of these events, the Gulf War and what happened in Iraq and later Afghanistan which taints the story in this book somewhat. Sadly, authors cannot predict how the future will change their books when they are grounded in real events and unfortunately I think that is what has happened here.
I would still like to read more of Hewson's books as I am hopeful this is just a one off book in the series where I just did not engage with the story.
I found I did not really engage with this story. I don;t know if it was the use of American secret services in this one which took it away from the battles between the different Rome departments or if it was just the story of this particular bunch of characters I did not engage with. Costa was not one of the main parts of this book - his partner Gianii Peroni was, which wasn't a bad thing as you really got to know this character and his girlfriend, Teresa Lupo more, but it was the wooden characters around them that failed to build the plot of this story which meant at the end, apart from wanting Costa, Peroni and Falcone to come out OK I really couldn't have cared less what happened to the other characters in the book.
Normally Hewson manages to write so that you end up feeling some sympathy for the criminals in the book. Her certainly managed that in book 5, but in this one I just wanted to shake every single American character and tell them to get a grip - or maybe that was the point? There was just too much 'romance' and 'nostalgia' centred around missions in to Iraq prior to the first Gulf War and beyond. or maybe perhaps it is my own perceptions of these events, the Gulf War and what happened in Iraq and later Afghanistan which taints the story in this book somewhat. Sadly, authors cannot predict how the future will change their books when they are grounded in real events and unfortunately I think that is what has happened here.
I would still like to read more of Hewson's books as I am hopeful this is just a one off book in the series where I just did not engage with the story.
November 8, 2014
Is a thriller based in Rome. It starts with a girl escaping from the war in Iraq that finishes her journey in Rome and witnesses a serial killer do away one of his victims inside the Pantheon.
The killer is what is left of a team who gathered intellingence in the moments pre-war (Desert Storm) campaign. The girl, Laila, steals his wallet while he carves the sacred cut shape on the back of his victim.
A mix of Italian police and FBI team will investigate the killings, to find out that Kaspar wanted vengeance against all the members of the team who abandoned him in Iraq and said he moved to the other side as traitor.
The book is typical USA thriller but the fact that it is set in Rome gives a very interesting note. The author mentions some historical monuments mainly in the Centro Storico and gives correct insights on how everything revolves around a good coffee at the bar. The author tries some wisdom like defining coping as "what you do in between working out what you really want to do with your time". The plot tried to emulate some of The Da Vinci Code content and cultural thriller. Although the simbolism of the sacred cut was powerful, the fact that it all boiled down to an Ex-USA military taking out lives to prove his point didn't fit much neither with Rome nor with the type of conspiracy it suggested initially.
Hewson put too much snow in the book. Although he mentions that it was an exceptional event, it is unlikely for Rome. In 6 years living in the city I have seen very few snow flakes, quite far from "an inverted cone inside the Pantheon" made of snow falling through the oculus.
The killer is what is left of a team who gathered intellingence in the moments pre-war (Desert Storm) campaign. The girl, Laila, steals his wallet while he carves the sacred cut shape on the back of his victim.
A mix of Italian police and FBI team will investigate the killings, to find out that Kaspar wanted vengeance against all the members of the team who abandoned him in Iraq and said he moved to the other side as traitor.
The book is typical USA thriller but the fact that it is set in Rome gives a very interesting note. The author mentions some historical monuments mainly in the Centro Storico and gives correct insights on how everything revolves around a good coffee at the bar. The author tries some wisdom like defining coping as "what you do in between working out what you really want to do with your time". The plot tried to emulate some of The Da Vinci Code content and cultural thriller. Although the simbolism of the sacred cut was powerful, the fact that it all boiled down to an Ex-USA military taking out lives to prove his point didn't fit much neither with Rome nor with the type of conspiracy it suggested initially.
Hewson put too much snow in the book. Although he mentions that it was an exceptional event, it is unlikely for Rome. In 6 years living in the city I have seen very few snow flakes, quite far from "an inverted cone inside the Pantheon" made of snow falling through the oculus.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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